Sesshoumaru's flowers
by Gesserit
Summary: Sesshoumaru tells Rin that the flowers she picks die. Then he finds himself forced to mend his doing, because she grows sad. What will he do? Oneshot. Sess in character!


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AN: I hate that Sesshoumaru lost his arm, and I give it back to him as often as possible. Here too. Just a little one-shot about Rin, Sesshoumaru, and dead flowers. He has a heart!! A little sad, but hey…

RR if you want, one-shots keep pouring out of me lately. This one's written at a very late hour, so…

Oh, and that's not a real song, It's just something I made up.

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**Sesshoumaru's flowers**

_Did you know, love,_

_the sun is yellow_

_the moon is white_

_the sky is blue?_

_did you know, love,_

_the sun is burning_

_the moon is dying_

_the sky is hollow?_

_did you know, love,_

_the sun has burnt_

_the moon is dead,_

_the sky is nothing?_

Her small voice kept repeating those words, as she struggled to wrap some field flowers into a bouquet. But they would slip from her small hands, and she would frown as she gathered them from the forest's damp floor. And then she sang her song again, with more determination, like a litany, like a prayer meant to tame some wild beast. Her dark eyes fought to pierce the darkness growing deeper and deeper around her, as the sun was well on its way down for the day.

It was warm, but through her thin layers of clothing, Rin was chilly. She wouldn't have said a word though, even if her lips would have turned violet from the cold air… which wasn't really the case. The piece of cloth she had for a ribbon could hardly perform the task she'd assigned it to, but nonetheless she was fighting to capture the flowers into a tight bunch.

Her "litany to tame the beast" kept on, she was singing it absentmindedly ever since she'd heard it from a woman working the fields, two days ago. It had stuck with her, she couldn't say why. The "beast" stood not five feet from her, looking at the fading light of the sun behind the line of the horizon.

_did you know, love,_

_the sun is burning_

_the moon is dying_

_the sky is hollow?_

…………………

"Rin." Sesshoumaru almost whispered, not wanting to wake Jaken, who was sleeping soundly against Ah-Un. The dragon opened one eye and set it on his master, as Rin stopped her quiet singing, and her work to look up at the taiyoukai.

"Hai." she said, as quietly as she could. Sesshoumaru wasn't looking at her, he was still focused on the sunset, but she knew he was thinking of something else.The time spent by his side had taught her that. Even so, an eight year old human child couldn't presume to know everything that went through such a creature's mind. Rin looked at Sesshoumaru with wide open brown eyes.

"What is that you are singing?" he said, his tone unwavering and yet somewhat curious.

Rin shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know." Sesshoumaru frowned a little. Sometimes, he couldn't understand Rin.

"Why do you sing it, then?" Rin looked a little troubled by his question. She couldn't give a good answer, though.

"I don't know." she repeated, and felt a little embarrassed. Sesshoumaru turned to look at her and sat down to level with the little girl, his legs crossed in the usual manner. As his eyes set on Rin, the girl grew more and more uncomfortable by his sudden interest in her activity. She blushed a little, confused about his intentions. He'd never paid much attention to her random babbling.

"I can't tie these." she said, almost sadly as she ripped her stare off his face and looked down at the flowers now spread in her lap. The piece of cloth was obviously insufficient to act as a restrain for the thick bunch of flowers. Sesshoumaru followed her sad gaze onto the withering flowers.

"Why do you try? They are dead now." Rin sprung her head up at him, disbelief flooding her usually mellow eyes. She shook her head, and a few strands fell over her eyes. She didn't seem to mind though, but took another look at the flowers, then back at Sesshoumaru.

"They aren't dead, Sesshoumaru-sama. They are still pretty." she said in a dim voice, almost afraid to contradict him.

"As soon as you pick them, they are dead." Rin still refused to believe this. The flowers were still pretty, and dead thing weren't pretty, she knew. She_ knew_.

"There is no blood." she concluded, shyly, opening her hands and looking at some of the flowers, her childish words making him ache inside. There was no blood.

"Flowers have no blood, Rin." he said, and his voice seemed to break as she looked into his eyes halfway through his sentence. Her small human hands were open and rested motionless in her lap, with a few flowers inside. Sesshoumaru didn't know what else he could say to her. She was the image of disappointment, and her eyes strayed from his face to the flowers around her.

"They don't." she said, and sighed shallowly. Sesshoumaru watched as she fingered the strip of cloth, obviously trying to make room inside her head for this discovery, this truth that for her meant so much now. She'd killed so many flowers, then, and she didn't even know it. They had no blood. They had no voice to scream their pain as she forcefully took them away from their places.

"Sesshoumaru-sama…" she cried out, like a plea, and her eyes filled with bitter tears. Sesshoumaru was regretting his words, but it was fairly late now.

"I've… killed them. Sesshoumaru-sama…" her shoulders began to run up and down softly, as her silent tears watered the fiery cheeks of the child. She felt so sorry now, but there was no point, she knew it was too late for all the flowers she'd killed in her senseless child play.

Sesshoumaru's eyes rested on the limp flowers, and the child's hands. They were opened into a helpless manner, palm up and fingers slightly bent.

"You can make it up to them, Rin." he said, a weird and unexpected bump forming in his throat. He cleared his voice.

"You can also _give_ life to flowers." Rin looked at him full of hope.

"I can? Really?" Sesshoumaru was still amazed, every day, by how deeply his words could affect this child. That was why he tried to talk as little as he could around her, except for the occasional warnings he emitted.

"Of course. You can plant seeds from these flowers, and they will grow to become flowers themselves." Rin's face lit up, and the taiyoukai's heart felt lighter. He hated emotions.

"Will you teach me, Sesshoumaru-sama? Will you, please? Please…"

"Tomorrow." he said, stopping her cascade of words. Rin quieted down and felt more at ease. But, the flowers she had in her lap now were still quite dead, proof of her ignorance and selfishness. Sesshoumaru guessed her thoughts, and stretched out his arm to gather the weak plants from the girl's lap. When he collected them all, he unfolded her fingers and drew out the piece of cloth she held, eyeing it like it were some important piece of material. Consequently, he put it on the ground, and drew a thin white strip of fabric from his obi, leaving Rin wordless. She watched with wide open eyes as he wrapped the stainless fabric around the flowers, forming a perfectly round bouquet.

When he was finished, he took the water recipient hanging from Ah-Un's side and poured some into his hand, then sprayed it on the blooms. Then, he wet the white bond which Rin thought looked like a bandage now.

She couldn't rip her gaze off his perfect hands, watering the colorful flowers. These were the moments that nobody got to live… Nobody but her, because – she wondered – who could have seen Sesshoumaru-sama caring for some poor dead flowers? Who, but her? Rin felt special, she felt blessed to be with him, in that moment, and she knew she would never feel as safe anywhere in the world.

As Sesshoumaru looked into her deep brow eyes, and extended his arm to offer the little girl those silly dead flowers, Rin knew she could never feel happier with anyone, either.

She took the bouquet, and didn't dare to smile, because the feeling she had was beyond smiling. She just looked at him, and froze the moment in her mind. Sesshoumaru-sama was giving her flowers.

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End file.
